Memoirs of a Geisha - Review English
Memoirs of a Geisha.
Memoirs of A Geisha is a novel by Arthur Golden. It is a Historical Drama that is set in Japan in the 1930’s. It follows the life of a young Japanese girl named Chiyo. She and her sister Satsu are sold into slavery during the great depression. Her father sells them to a businessman and because of Chiyo’s strange, grey eyes, she is sold into an okiya (a geisha house) in Gion, Kyoto while her sister is sold into prostitution.
After being in the okiya for a couple of months, she is allowed to attend a geisha school with another young girl in her Okiya named Pumpkin, where she would learn how to play a Japanese instrument called the samisen, learn tea ceremonies, read and write in Japanese and dance. She is not very fond of her living conditions and tries to escape with her sister, but that ends up failing. A geisha in the house named Hatsumomo doesn’t like her and would kindly make her living conditions worse. In doing so, she was pulled out of geisha school and was sent to being a maid until she paid all of her debts.
After a while of being a maid, she runs into Mahema, a professional and popular geisha in the town of Gion, and offers to aid her into becoming a geisha. However Hatsumomo is jealous of this and tries as hard as she can to destroy her chances. In the end, she becomes one of the most celebrated geisha of Gion and her tale becomes one of many great true stories.
The book is revolved around the Great Depression and World War II. After she is driven away from her family and her village and put into a geisha house without her sister, she realizes that she will never see them again. During the book, she has to face many issues, one being both her parents dying and the other with her sister escaping to never be seen by her again. After realizing all of this, she tries so hard to make a new life for herself, but her troubles are far from over when her chances of being a geisha are ruined not just by her but by Hatsumomo as well.
Memoirs of A Geisha is a novel by Arthur Golden. It is a Historical Drama that is set in Japan in the 1930’s. It follows the life of a young Japanese girl named Chiyo. She and her sister Satsu are sold into slavery during the great depression. Her father sells them to a businessman and because of Chiyo’s strange, grey eyes, she is sold into an okiya (a geisha house) in Gion, Kyoto while her sister is sold into prostitution.
After being in the okiya for a couple of months, she is allowed to attend a geisha school with another young girl in her Okiya named Pumpkin, where she would learn how to play a Japanese instrument called the samisen, learn tea ceremonies, read and write in Japanese and dance. She is not very fond of her living conditions and tries to escape with her sister, but that ends up failing. A geisha in the house named Hatsumomo doesn’t like her and would kindly make her living conditions worse. In doing so, she was pulled out of geisha school and was sent to being a maid until she paid all of her debts.
After a while of being a maid, she runs into Mahema, a professional and popular geisha in the town of Gion, and offers to aid her into becoming a geisha. However Hatsumomo is jealous of this and tries as hard as she can to destroy her chances. In the end, she becomes one of the most celebrated geisha of Gion and her tale becomes one of many great true stories.
The book is revolved around the Great Depression and World War II. After she is driven away from her family and her village and put into a geisha house without her sister, she realizes that she will never see them again. During the book, she has to face many issues, one being both her parents dying and the other with her sister escaping to never be seen by her again. After realizing all of this, she tries so hard to make a new life for herself, but her troubles are far from over when her chances of being a geisha are ruined not just by her but by Hatsumomo as well.